Forever My Protecters
by The Outsiders EXPERT-101
Summary: Ponyboy, a two-year-old baby, had everything: the love, the care, and especially the protection from his older brothers and the gang. But that will be put to the ultimate test when Ponyboy is kidnapped by socs. I DON'T OWN THE OUTSIDERS
1. Chapter 1

PONYBOY'S POV

I woke up screaming. Then I started bawling my eyes out.

"DADDY!!!" I yelled in between sobs. I was really calling out for Darry, but he and Soda hadn't finished teaching me my R's yet. Besides, Darry and Daddy looked a lot alike anyways.

Darry came running in, dressed in his black tank top and faded dark blue jeans, and turned the lights on. He looked tired by the way his brown hair was messed up and his eyes were underlined with circles. It looked pretty dark outside, but I wasn't able to tell if it was morning or nighttime.

"Oh, baby, my poor poor baby brother…" Darry said gently. He reached into my crib and picked me up. Once he had me on his hip I wrapped my arms around his neck and started to cry even more. It was a scary dream. By that time, Soda was in the room too, only wearing his jeans, stroking my hair.

I stopped crying after Darry had taken me out to the front to eat a midnight snack, but I was still shaking. Darry handed me to Soda and I wrapped my arms around his neck, even tighter than I did with Darry. I lay my head down on his shoulder and watched the surroundings change as Soda changed the directions in which he was walking.

"Are you okay Pony?" Soda whispered in my ear, kissing me on the side of the head. I didn't answer, partly because I was tired, but mostly because not answering someone's question tells them that I was saying 'no'. "Hmmm? Is my sweet little baby bro okay?" I decided to answer the question, since I was feeling better.

"uh.." I said softly. I couldn't really talk that well yet (what 1-year-old baby can?) but when I did, I always had one answer for 'yes', and both Darry and Soda knew that.

"Oh, that's good…" Soda said in relief, sitting me on top of his lap. I watched as Darry came in with a bottle of warm milk, shaking it vigorously. He sat down and held his hands out, telling me in baby sign language to come here. I crawled to him and sat down in his lap. He held me as if I were still two-months-old and put the bottle in my mouth. The milk felt real good going down my throat and I felt my eyelids getting heavier, until all I could see was the color black. I was still drinking and I could hear Darry and Soda talking.

"Man, Darry, did Mom give you private lessons on how to do this baby type stuff or are you just that smart?" Soda joked around.

"Naw… I just remember watching her do this with him every day when he got cranky or tired." Darry said softly. I could detect a hint of worry in his voice.

I almost started crying again, but then I shifted in Darry's arms and I was okay again. I couldn't hear the rest of what they talked about, but I was pretty sure it was about me. I didn't remember if Darry had put me back to bed, but who cares? I was warm and comfortable, sleeping peacefully in my brother's arms.


	2. Chapter 2

When I woke up, I was back in my crib again and daylight was seeping through the closed blinds draped over my window. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. I was then staring at the colossal white door straight ahead of me through the tall crib bars that kept me from getting out. I stood up and tried to climb the bars, but I failed; I always try doing that when waking up in the morning. I was going to try again, but I didn't have to, because the golden door knob started to turn slowly. Soda peeked through the crack in the door and smiled at me.

"Hi baby boy! You ready for breakfast?" He asked as he walked to me, this time wearing a thin undershirt.

"uh!" I held my arms eagerly out towards Soda, standing on my tippy toes. He laughed and picked me up, throwing me in the air and then catching me. I let out shrieks of laughter. I loved it when Soda and Darry did stuff like that with me! It made me feel real special a lot of the time(and at that time, I didn't know that I was more precious to them than anything else). After dressing me in blue jeans and a dark green shirt, he put me on his hip and walked out to the front, still smiling brightly.

Soda made funny faces at me and pretended to drop me, always catching me before I hit the ground as we entered the small room we called the living room. The whole gang was out there already, laughing, making jokes, wrestling with each other, and I thought I could hear the faint theme song of Mickey Mouse on the television set. Soda walked into the kitchen, where Darry was frying eggs in a pan, whistling happily as he cracked another white oval shaped thing into it. He looked at who had entered, then smiled as brightly as Soda did, then jogged the few feet there was between us.

"Good morning Ponyboy!!" Darry said.

"Daddy!" I squealed as I practically jumped from Soda's hip to Darry's outstretched arms. Darry spun me around a few times before giving me back to Soda and getting back to cooking breakfast. Soda went out to the front and put me down. Then he walked off back to his room to finish getting ready for work. Johnny came and sat down right beside me waving his hand and smiling.

"Hey!" He said softly. Johnny had a record for being quiet, but I was still the undefeated champion. I smiled, then tried to stand upright. I hadn't really learned how walking worked out(the gang made it seem so easy, and was able to make it into their own version!), but I was getting closer to mastering it. I leaned on Johnny's shoulder. Two-Bit(Who I call keet, since his name was too hard for a one-year-old to say correctly) then kneeled on the floor putting his arms out towards me.

"C'mon squirt!" He said. I then took one step after the other, slowly, trying not to fall on my butt. "DARRY!! SODA!! Come and look at this!!" Two-Bit said excitedly. I hadn't fell yet, and I was almost to Two-Bit. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Darry, Soda, and the rest of the gang, all watching me as I walked and fell in Two-Bit's arms.

"Good job!!" Two-Bit said running his fingers through my reddish-brown hair. I laughed and played with his face for a little bit, then sat down and took the wooden letter blocks that were scattered all over the floor and started to spell out my last name: CURTIS.

"WHOA!!" Steve said shockingly as I finished up. Darry and Soda both turned to face him, then their eyes went wide as they looked in the direction that Steve was looking in. I pointed to each letter as I pronounced them out loud.

"See, You, Awe, Tee, Eye...uh....Ess!" I said, thinking harder about how to say that last letter of my last name. Then I smiled and clapped my hands. Soda knelt down beside me, he had pulled on his light blue work shirt that had the DX Gas Station symbol on the pocket, and stared at the letter blocks, as if they had spoken by themselves; then he looked at me.

"Wow, Ponyboy, that's very… good!" He said in disbelief. I stood up again and hugged Soda. He picked me up and kissed me on the forehead.

"Uh!!" I said, pointing out the doorway. I wanted to go to the park. I loved going on the swings and playing on the silver slide, even though it was stained with other baby's drool and sometimes bird poop. And sometimes there was other tots there that were my age who played with me!

"Oh! Okay, Johnny, you and Dally wanna take him to the park today?" Soda asked. Johnny and Dally both exchanged glances then nodded their heads. I squealed with delight and clapped my hands. "okay, then! You behave Pony? Ya hear me?" I wanted to answer him correctly.

"ya!" I screamed. Darry came over and held me for the little bit of time he had left before going to work.


	3. Chapter 3

Darry and Soda had both left to work as well as Steve. Two-Bit decided to hang with me, Johnny, and Dally today. Dally had greased up my hair pretty good with pomade, and pulled on my black sweatshirt. We were almost to the park when all of a sudden a blue mustang pulled up and 12 socs got out(it was only six, but I counted by two's…heh heh…). They looked okay to me, until they all slowly pulled out their switchblades and forced us into a deep, dark, alley. We were forced against the brick wall. The Socs started laughing in a dark, evil way. I cringed and let out a soft whimper, clinging to Dally's pant leg. I was scared stiff. I wanted my brothers to be here with me. I heard the Steve and Soda talk about the Socs, and they did not sound like the kind of people you'd want to hang out with!

Dally bent down and threw his arm around me protectively, giving the Socs dirty looks of hatred. I wrapped my arms around him and buried my face in his chest. Sometimes Dally scared me, but he was as protective over me as Darry, Soda, and the rest of the gang were.

"Well, well, well! What do we have here? Three greasers and their mutt!" Two-Bit's face went whiter than anything when the Soc said mutt. His teeth were clenched together and his hands were balled into tight fists; he was shaking with rage.

"You better watch your mouth you piece of ----" Dally said in a disgusted voice. The Socs all looked at us and stepped forward putting their switchblades so close to us, that it was four or five inches from our faces; way too close for comfort. I was trembling with fear, but then I got an idea. I knew it was stupider than ever, but I had to try.

I let go of Dally and I ran towards the Socs, screaming. I snatched one of their switchblades from them and slashed another Soc's leg completely on accident(okay, maybe not, but I'm a baby! Who's gonna think that I did that on purpose?). The Soc screamed in pain and had come a half an inch close to slicing my face into two, hadn't Two-Bit grabbed me and thrown me behind him. My arm was stinging and when I looked at it, there was dark red blood caked all over it. I had cut myself. Two-Bit, Dally, and Johnny had each taken ahold of a different Soc and had started having it out with them; sorta like a mini rumble. I couldn't take my eyes off of my bloody arm.

All of a sudden, a Soc grabbed me and bolted towards the mustang. I was screaming the whole way.

"NOOO!!!!" Two-Bit yelled. There was blood coming down the corner of his mouth and he punched the Soc out cold. He started at a dead run for me and had me around the waist, but the Soc was holding me by the legs. Finally he(the Soc) let me go and Two-Bit had fallen backwards hitting the concrete pretty hard. I hit my head when Two-Bit had fallen and all I could hear was a high pitched buzzing noise. The pain was so bad, I couldn't even cry, though I really wanted to. I started losing consciousness, trying to fight the black dizziness that dragged me down below the surface where dreams and reality met. The last thing I heard was someone calling my name desperately and then, an eerie nothingness droned on and on in my head, stilling all the noise that had once surrounded me.


	4. Chapter 4

When I woke up, the room was white. I was lying in a comfortable bed that wasn't mine. I could feel tubes running across my face and something at the end of my middle finger on my right hand. Someone was stroking my other hand softly, and I thought that I could hear another's muffled sobs. I weakly opened my eyes and looked around. It was a pretty small room with light blue wallpaper lining the edges of the faded cream walls. There was machines to the right of me that had different numbers and funny squiggly lines that changed every so often(of which the tubes were connected to these square shaped bags), and white drapes covering the windows. There was two doors; one in front of me that read **RESTROOM** and another to the very far left corner; each the color white(they reminded me of my bedroom door). A couple of chairs were lined up neatly to the left of the door that didn't have **RESTROOM** spelled out clearly on it. Darry and Soda had pulled up two of those chairs close to the edge of the bed, and were sitting hunched over in them.

Soda was the one crying, Darry was the one stroking my hand. He seemed as though he was gonna cry too(but I could tell that he had been crying long before I woke); I could see the tears welling in his eyes. They both looked like they had lost a whole week's worth of sleep; there were bags underneath their red, puffy eyes. It also looked as if they hadn't smiled in decades since worry lines marked their tear-streaked faces.

"Daddy..." I cried softly. I was scared and aching; I noticed there was a bandage wrapped around my head, and a cast on my right arm(I'm known to be very observant). Both Darry and Soda looked at me, more tears streaming down their faces. I couldn't help but to start crying again; Darry got up and sat on the edge of the bed, getting comfortable right next to me. Then he started caressing my face, making lulling noises through his mouth.

"Shhh... Baby, it's alright now. You're safe... Don't cry, please? Just go back to bed now..." Darry said in a low gentle voice. I stopped sobbing, but my breath was coming in small, short gasps. Darry started stroking my hair, continuing to calm me down with lulling noises. Soda held my hand and kissed the inside of it, trying to smile for my sake. I pulled my other hand up and started sucking on my thumb, trying to stay calm and stop crying for both Darry and Soda.

It was lunchtime, and I was allowed to leave in a half an hour. I was sitting up and scribbling pictures of hearts, stars, and other shapes that I found interest in, with Johnny and Soda.

"Wow Ponyboy! That looks awesome!" Johnny said. Soda stared at him, probably because the most that we have ever heard Johnny say was 'my name's Johnny'.

"goot!" I said, pointing to one of my oddly shaped pictures(which was suppose to be a square, but it turned out to be more like a messed up version of a broken window). I grabbed the red crayon off of the counter beside me and started coloring it in, trying my best to color inside the lines, when Darry walked in.

"Hey Darry!" Soda said gleefully, getting up to give him a hug. After that, Darry came in and sat down in a chair, closing his eyes and letting out a long sigh. He looked beat. "Hard day at work?" Darry nodded his head, then opened his eyes again and looked at me. He smiled.

"Hey babe, how you feelin' ?" Darry asked getting up and sitting on the edge of the bed again. I said my usual answer for yes and held up the drawings that I did.

"WOW!" Darry said in an amazed voice. He took the picture and studied it more. "It's a star?" I squealed with delight and clapped my hands. Darry was pretty good at guessing things. He then smiled, put the picture down, and pulled me across his lap(the tubes were all taken out about an hour after I woke up). I looked up at him and put my thumb in my mouth again as he and Soda started talking about his hard day at work. Apparently, this snobby older woman hated what Darry and his co-workers did to her roof, so she started telling them off. Darry said he was about ready to smack her in the face, but he had kept his temper at a safe height after remembering me and Soda.

"Good for you! I know I wouldn't have been able to do that sort of stuff in a situation like that." Soda commented, trying to feed me bits of his bagel that he bought in the store across the street. I ate the first strangely shaped pieces that Soda gave me, but then I lost my appetite and started throwing the other pieces to the floor.

"No! Ponyboy, we don't do that! Don't do that okay?" Soda said in a serious voice. I nodded my head sheepishly, feeling a little guilty. Soda then smiled at me, and messed up my hair(I hadn't used any hair grease since I awoke).

It was getting pretty dark outside, and Two-Bit had changed the channel to the 6 o' clock news. There was something about toddlers getting kidnapped in our area, but no one except me was listening attentively.

"... No one knows who it is, and where he's hiding them, but the police are investigating it and will get back to us as soon as possible. Jim..." The news people started talking about a different story(and I could never catch up with the many elaborated stories that they gave) and so I started to crawl over to Johnny who was lost in a thick book with light salmon colored edges and a blue cover that reminded me of the hospital room that I was in about 3 hours ago.

"uh!" I said questioningly pointing to the book. It took Johnny a few seconds for him to react, but finally he looked at me and quickly exchanged glances between me and what I was pointing at.

"Oh! It's a book I'm reading called _Gone With The Wind._It's very...umm....how do I say it... Well it's very scary, yet... adventurous." I stared at Johnny with a puzzle look on my face. I had no idea what that meant so I just went on and tried to read what was in the book. I couldn't make out a single word so I tried reading it upside down. Johnny was quietly giggling in the backround as I made wierd faces and furrowed my brows the more and more I tried to read on. All of a sudden, a knock came at the door.

"I'll get it!" Soda called from a distance, then he came bolting out of the hallway, making heavy footsteps on the ground. He opened the door. I leaned more to my left and squinted to see who was there. It was a tall, blonde guy. He looked about Darry's age and had about the same build as well. He smiled(his smile reminded me of the smile the Socs back in the alley gave us) and said, "Hello, Sodapop." Soda started backing away, eyes wider than ever, and I finally realized that there was 8 other Socs behind him(4 Socs, sorry!! I really need to learn how to count correctly!!) that had the same mischievious smile. Soda came and grabbed me and headed at a dead run for our room, as well as Johnny(I forgot one important sliver of info: We were the ONLY ones there at the house). He practically threw me on the bed and slammed the door shut, quickly locking it before turning around. He looked terrified. There was sweat highlighting his forehead, his whole body seemed to shake.

"OPEN UP, GREASER!!" a voice boomed. It was soon followed by hard pounding on the wooden door. It sounded like a huge clap of thunder against a silent sunshine-filled day. I whimpered and slid underneath the bed. Then the door was kicked down and I could hear Johnny and Soda cry out in pain. I could hear grunts, groans, and cussing as feet were mixed up all over the floor, moving fast. I was dead silent, and even held my breath, as soon as I saw Soda hit the ground, his eyes closed, unconcious. He had bruises on his cheeks and blood was running down the side of his head, staining his wheat-gold hair at the tips. Johnny was next and he had caught my eye before a closed fist came out of nowhere and punched his lights out; he looked even worse with blood dripping out of his mouth and a swelling bruise at the right hand corner of his forehead. The hand picked up Johnny by the front of the shirt(probably to make sure that he wasn't conscious) then dropped him hard on the floor as soon as it realized how limp his body was.

"Where's the boy?" A different voice asked menacingly. I slid across the carpet as silently as I could towards the back wall. Then an unfamiliar face peeked through the edge of the blanket that hung neatly over the cliffside of the bed. He gave me a plastic smile.

"Aww, come here baby..." He said in a deep voice, reaching out his hand towards me. I shook my head no and tried to back away even further, but I had reached the limit. The hand grabbed my wrist and yanked me right out from under there. I let out a blood curdling scream to alert the neighbors(since I was the loudest person on the planet) but then my voice was muffled when a hankerchief came out of nowhere and covered my mouth completely. I tried biting down, but I was slowly getting drowsier and drowsier within the seconds that seemed to pass by more and more slowly. I had no choice but to lay limp in the Soc's arms, and fell into a deep and peaceful slumber.


	5. Chapter 5

When I woke up I was lying down on a very thin area of carpet. I was being bumped around, as well as other objects in here that were bumping not only into the dull, rough walls around me but also into me. I felt real nauseous(partly because I get motion sickness a lot faster than other people do)as well as smarting and aching, and I so desperately wanted to be home. I started sobbing softly, since my arm hurt badly (the cast was off, thank goodness, but I was still wearing it in a sling) and I didn't know where I was; and on top of that it was pitch black in here and I was deathly afraid of the dark.

After a while, the car stopped and I could hear car doors being opened then slammed shut. There was strange male voices, then a clinking noise, that sounded like silver pots being bumped around together, right outside the metal shell that seemed to block all of the sunlight from getting to me. All of a sudden, a dull bluish- grayish light poured all over me. There was two pairs of hands that reached towards me and gripped my underarms so tightly that it stung; a lot. I was pulled out of the trunk of the car and thrown over someone's bony shoulder. I didn't have the strength to open my eyes so I just wrapped my arms around the person's neck(force of habit) and I started sucking my thumb again(I had stopped crying by then).

I heard a door open and a warm draft hugged me. The quiet pounding of footsteps on a wooden floor were then followed by a small creak in a door as it was softly closed.

"Is he asleep?" An unfamiliar voice asked.

"I think so… Paul? What are we doing? We just kidnapped a kid!! You are aware that this is illegal, right!?!?!" A different voice said in a stressed, worried tone.

"This is payback!! Besides, when did you begin to follow what the law said Mr. steal everything that you like!?! And what happened to ' let's do this! I'm with ya all the way, bud', hm? What happened to that?!? " The first voice answered loudly.

"That was BEFORE I knew we were gonna kidnap Darry's kid brother, man!!" The second voice snapped. I opened my eyes and was a little surprised when I saw marble white walls with a medium-sized boxed area where a small cozy fire was crackling. It was neat and tidy in here, the dark wood floors were polished to a shine. There was a line of shoes up against the wall to the left of the door. The door looked like a fancier version of my bedroom door; like it was suppose to be the gateway to heaven. It looked like it just had a new fresh coat of a bleach white, and there was a crystal clear window letting in shades of the grey stained sunlight from outside. The dark chocolate colored furniture looked a thousand bucks(and it probably was, too) scattered in a sort of pattern over the cream colored carpet area. There seemed to be a step down from where the wood and the carpet met.

"Daddy…" I whimpered. I straightened up and searched the room for Darry or Soda. But all there was, was two, tall men, one of which was holding me, the other standing a couple feet from us(I was guessing that this was where the male voices came from). The guy who was holding me looked familiar… then I realized that he was the one that Soda answered the door to. Now that he was holding me, I could describe him a lot more.

He had sandy colored hair and bronze colored eyes. His nose was straight, and he had a look to him that reminded me a lot of Darry. Of course, he had the build of someone who had been playing football for several years, and he was about Darry's height and age(6"2', 20 yrs. Old). He was wearing a jockey's jacket with the name of a college on it(I didn't recognize the college, much less read what it said). There was blue stripes running around the wrist and the bottom of the jacket. He was also wearing a clean pair of dark blue jeans and white socks on his feet. I started observing the other teenager.

He looked a little younger than the guy holding me, maybe about 18, 19 years old. He had muddy brown hair and caramel colored eyes to go with it. He seemed a little slim, like Soda, and the same height, too. He was wearing a reddish-cream madras shirt with a couple of pens neatly lined up in his front pocket; khakis on the bottom half of his body. I was guessing that he was the other guy's brother. He smiled shyly at me.

"Hi, Ponyboy…" he said in a soft voice, waving his hand a little.

"George, don't talk to him. He's our prisoner. Plus, he's the enemy's baby brother!" The guy holding me said menacingly, tightening his grip on my waist. I wanted to squirm out of his embrace, but, I wasn't an idiot; I was scared that he would hurt me, so I just forced myself to stay still and to be quiet. I was then guessing that since the guy not holding me was George, then the guy holding me was Paul. Where had I heard the name 'Paul' before? …

"He looks scared!! And hurt!! He at least deserves someone to talk to! And besides, he's only, like, two years old. You're lucky he isn't screaming or crying right about now!!!!" George said angrily. Paul switched glances between me and George, then licked his lips quickly before he started talking again.

"Fine! Then you take him. I got to go and finish my report anyways," Paul snorted before thrusting me out in the air for George to hold. George took me more gently and hitched me on his hip, kind of like Soda does, and we both watched silently as Paul storm off.

"You hungry?" George asked quietly, his eyes still fixed on where Paul had walked off to. I liked George, and although he had helped kidnap me, it was kind of nice that he offered me food. I felt real bad for him though… I mean, having a friend like that. And being forced to do something this bad… I then started thinking of the many kids that were being kidnapped in our area… I wondered if they were the people who kidnapped those kids… I started feeling real scared again.

"Uh!!" I said, after I felt a little better. George started to put me down but then I started crying and tightened my grip on his neck. I didn't know where we were, so I didn't want to be left alone. George stopped and continued holding me and brought me into their kitchen. It looked magnificent; the kitchen, I mean. There was a silver fridge with coal black lining in the corner, but that's not the only wondrous thing that captured my attention! It was also the black polished counters, the fancy sparkling black oven and microwave(to match the counters), and the intricately carved cupboards and cabinets. On top of all that, there was a meticulously arranged set of magenta, red, and golden flowers all set in a clear vase in the middle of the light brown table. I couldn't stop staring in awe everywhere.

"You like it…huh?" George said, a small smile crossing his face. I nodded my head mechanically, taking it all in. George's smile broadened as he flipped the switch to the lovely light hanging right above the table. It shined like a thousand bright stars set against a darkened night. He went over to the fridge and took a carton of milk out of the top shelf on the inside of the fridge door. Then, after closing the fridge door and walking over to one of the cupboards, he took out a long, plastic, rectangular prism, that made crackling noises when touched slightly. He set the prism on the counter and took a glass cup out of a different cupboard. He then swiped the milk off of the counter, opened it, then poured it in the glass. After putting the milk back into the fridge he sat me down into a chair at the table and opened up the prism. There were crackers in it. I smiled and clapped my hands. George gave me a cracker and as I nibbled at the edges of it, he got up and walked over, pulling a drawer out. He loped back with a long white straw and dropped it into the milk, pulling the chair right next to me, out, so that he could sit in it.

"Here you go," He said bending the straw so that I could reach it more easily. I hadn't really seen, much less drink out of, straws before so I was a little nervous. But after contemplating about it, I quickly remembered how it worked and started sipping happily. The cold milk felt real good going down my throat.

After a couple minutes of chewing on crackers and slurping down milk, Paul came out and grabbed my arm unexpectedly, yanking me down from the table, making the crackers spill everywhere.

"PAUL WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?!?" George yelled in protest. Paul didn't answer but he stopped and let out a deep, disappointed sigh; George stood up and got closer to us. "I SAID WHAT ARE YOU DOING??!!!" George repeated, balling his fists. Paul turned around sharply and hit George so hard, that George had fallen to the ground. He looked up with a devastated look on his face, but Paul didn't care; he was giving George the dirtiest look with a mix of disappointment and disgust. His eyes glowed with fury.

"I'm taking the kid and locking him up in the closet," Paul growled, not softening his look. George looked at me with a hurt facial expression that said 'I'm sorry…' and tried to get up, gripping the edge of the table for support, but Paul had already thrown me in the nearest closet and had slammed the door shut. I banged on the door and started screaming; I told you, I'm deathly afraid of the dark. I could hear George and Paul fighting not only verbally, but physically as well. But then, after a huge crashing noise came into play, everything went quiet; too quiet. All I could hear was my heart beating fifty miles an hour.

"…teach you to never mess with me…" Paul said in a low, strained voice. George didn't answer… Where was he?? What happened?! I sat down and started bawling my eyes out, yelling out desperately for Soda, Darry, any one of the gang. Then a loud banging noise came from out of nowhere, as if someone had punched the outside of the closet door fiercely; I could feel my eyes getting wide.

"SHUT UP!!" Paul yelled angrily. I stopped immediately. I was shaking harder than anything, and I could feel a bead of sweat going down the side of my face. I started backing up underneath the hanging coats and sweaters and over the tennis shoes until I could feel the cold wall on my back. I was still crying, but I stopped making noise since I was so scared that Paul was gonna kill me, literally. I started breathing raggedly, tears still streaming down my face. My heart hurt so much, and I wished so badly for Darry and Soda to be here with me, to comfort me. I didn't know if I was gonna survive this… I wondered what the others were doing, if they were searching the area for me; I hoped they were. As I pondered my thoughts, I came to a realization that I might not even be anywhere near my house. I felt my eyes get wide. But one thing was for sure: if I was being kept under house arrest by Paul, then getting out of here wasn't gonna be easy.


	6. Chapter 6

I didn't realize that I had fallen asleep until I heard a clicking noise. I opened my eyes. My view was slanted, the right half pitch black, the left half getting brighter and brighter as a dim yellow light beamed into the room. I was curled up in a little ball on the floor. I guess I had pushed all the shoes to a different spot since I felt real comfortable and warm.

"Pony? …" a hurt and mangled voice said. I sat up and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. When my vision became clearer than when I had woken up, I could see George. He looked absolutely terrible. His left eye(the right eye from my perspective) was a dark purplish-blue and was throbbing. There was a huge, 1-inch-thick, cut going diagonally across his face; starting at the bottom of his right cheek, going across the bridge of his nose and ending right underneath his bruised eye; there was blood running down his face. There were other minor cuts and bruises along his arms. He had a blood stained bandage wrapped tightly around his left wrist. He also looked as if he had been crying.

"owie…" I said softly, pointing to his long cut. He nodded his head solemnly.

"Yes, owie, Ponyboy. My brother has a… a hot temper when it comes to people challenging his ability. I just forgot that he can be real abusive sometimes… I mean I love him and all… but I get so scared when he does that. He never did this before mom and dad died…" George stopped. He looked down and closed his eyes tightly, as if I had just punched him in the gut. His soft voice reminded me of Johnny's, and I was suddenly reminded of home. I started crying, remembering how Soda and Darry were sobbing at our parents' funeral; how sad and hurt they looked. That was the same look that George had on now. And to be frank with you, I didn't like it when people cried, because it meant that they were in pain, and I could always feel that pain.

"Shhh…,-" George whispered pleadingly, motioning his hands towards me, "-…don't cry! Please don't cry. You'll wake Paul…" I stopped and started sniffling. George wrapped his arms around me and rubbed my back slightly. I wondered how in the world someone as nice and kind as George would be related to someone so mean and crude like Paul. I felt bad for George, I really did.

George soon let go of me and fixed my hair. He straightened up and his face went blank with a faint hint of fear in his eyes as soon as we both heard some racket. He then quickly pushed me back into the closet, said, "sorry" afterwards , and closed the door, locking it quietly. I again heard footsteps, but these sounded heavy on the floor, like they were being dragged rather than taking step-by-steps.

"George… I'm… I'm so sorry…" I heard Paul say in a tired voice.

"I know you are…" George said softly. There was some commotion and then they both started talking to each other regularly again. I didn't get it. Paul beat up George badly, and yet George forgave him! How does that work out?? I was starting to think that Paul had done this before, many, many times. And that idea meant that he was destined to do it many, many times in the future.

I scratched at the door and called out for Darry and Soda again. Again there was a big banging on the door that answered back, and I could hear Paul's dark voice say, " I swear if you don't shut your mouth I will personally-" and then George cut in.

"Please… Paul, he's only two. Take it easier on him…" I could hear Paul breathing heavy on the outside of the door for a minute. "Please, brother…. For me…." George's voice sounded like a little kids asking for an ice cream cone. I head Paul give another one of his deep sighs, and then an audio version of footsteps stepping off into the distance played.

"Fine. But if you feed that boy anything I swear you'll regret it!" Paul threatened. I could picture George nodding his head shakily, and Paul storming off to go and make breakfast, since I head a faint pop of the gas and a sizzling noise a while after that.

Almost the whole day had been pure torture!! Not being able to eat anything and being concealed and kept away from all sunlight (though I was able to get over my fear of the dark). But fortunately for me, after what seemed like forever, someone had opened the door, and to my relief it was George. He looked much better, with his cut cleaned up and his swollen eye gone down much more; he smiled at me. I reached my hands up to him.

"Uh!!" I said huskily. He bent down and gently picked me up. He then fed me a little bit of crackers and milk, but then he put me back down in the closet. I stared up at him with puppy dog eyes.

"I'm sorry, Pony, but you're lucky that I was able to feed you before Paul had gotten back. I can't keep you out here… If Paul knows what I did, I swear I'll really get it this time. I'm so sorry…" George said, closing the door and locking it. I started crying and not long afterwards I heard their front door open and close.

"Did you…" Paul started to say in a deep firm voice but George had cut him off.

"No, I did not feed him, nor did I play with him." He answered mechanically. I stopped crying and wished so badly for Darry and Soda to come. I had never been this hurt in the entire year that I've been alive… it wasn't a good feeling to have; and to feel it at such a young and inexperienced age, made it all the more worse.


	7. Chapter 7

Every day went like this for the next WHENEVER; George pulls me out of the closet(it's always at a different time), feeds me, and puts me back into the closet; at least I wasn't being starved to death, which Paul was trying to do to me. I didn't keep track of how many days I had been gone from my home, but everyday I wished so badly to be there, reunited with my loving brothers and gang again. It never was easy for my family, I mean, we lost our parents not too long ago and with Johnny getting beaten up pretty badly(George came in pretty close) Socs and Steve's father getting more and more abusive of him... well life was just too hard for us; ALL of us. Now I'm who knows where locked up in a dungeon of a closet while Paul and George are off doing WHO KNOWS WHAT!!!

I was all of a sudden snatched up roughly and taken outside to a red, freshly washed mustang(it was gleaming in the tall lamplight's yellow beam). _Paul,_ I guessed correctly. George took ahold of me from Paul and held onto me gently, trying to lull me to be quiet while his very pissy brother hopped in the front and started the car. I felt myself and George being jerked forwards and then sideways as Paul backed out of the driveway and into the road, slamming on the gas pedal as soon as we were straight enough(I guess the fact that there was a car already coming up behind us, that had to stop all of a sudden when we backed out, didn't bother Paul none about our safety, let alone theirs).

"Daddy..." I said softly, looking to George for guidance as to where we were going and why I was coming along this time; by that time I had already gotten it through my head that I wasn't going anywhere because apparently I'm on the news, and people who would see me would call the police and get Paul and George arrested, and as much as I wanted justice against Paul, I didn't want George to be put in jail. The sky reminded me of the nervous feeling that was forming in the put of my stomach;all black while the ominous clouds loomed above and as lights of the stores and other car flew past the window(of which made me aware that this wasn't a joy ride).

"Oh, you're gonna see Darry in a bit, Ponyboy, trust me..." Paul growled in a deep voice as he turned sharply around the corner. I limited my talking to small whimpers and started sucking on my thumb again, leaning against George, letting him stroke my hair the whole rest of the ride.

"Here... give this to the kid." Paul ordered, handing George a cup full of milk. George hesitated for some odd reason, and gave Paul a pleading look in the rearview mirror, but then gave it to me when Paul didn't spare him even a passing glance; I accepted it happily, though it tasted kind of funny, thinking that Paul and I were good now, that maybe he understood me now that I was cooperating pretty nicely with his harsh expectations and hatred filled intentions; of course, I was wrong.

I had almost fallen asleep when all of a sudden I felt myself being cradled in someone else's arms. I felt so tired and weak for some reason, and at first I thought that I should've probably taken a nap back at George's house(seeing as how I never could sleep on the ground of that cold closet), but then again, it didn't add up at all. It was pretty cold outside, and I wondered, confused and scared, why we were here. Then, when I heard a familiar voice speak, my question was immediately answered.

"Ponyboy... WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM!?!" I heard Soda yell in a hurt and angry tone. _Soda!?_, I thought suddenly, hope shooting through my blood stream.

"I just sedated him... that's all!" I heard Paul answer, faking his innocent accent. He then laughed deeply, and I could hear some commotion and screaming going on. Paul clicked his tongue. What did 'sedate' mean? What did he do to me!?! I tried to move but, I couldn't find the strength within me to try and even open my eyes; I knew I had some, I could feel it deep, deep within me, but I couldn't find it anywhere. He had did something to me alright... and I didn't like it one bit... I managed a small whimper out of my mouth to let Darry and Soda know that I was more scared than anything, and that I wanted them to do something about it.

"Temper, temper, temper! You better keep yourself under control if you want your baby brother safe at home within the next few minutes or so." Paul said in a calm, but harsh, tone; I could feel him pat my head ever so slightly(if I could've bitten him, I would've). He laughed again and then silence filled the air.

"What do you want, Paul? Please... I'll give you anything just don't hurt him..." Darry said in a soft and pleading voice. George shifted me in his arms uncomfortably, like something was bugging him real bad, while silence played out again like a song.

"Darrel, Darrel, Darrel... Do you not know who I am? 'cuz if ya do... then you must know that I don't give things away that easily... Now do I?" I flinched in George's arms when a rush of ice cold wind covered me like a blanket.

"Please... Just tell me what you want!" Darry asked yet again, a hint of worry and regret in his voice. Silence again. I was slowly opening my eyes and was looking up at a purple and blue sky dotted with sparkling white stars in constellations. I turned my head to see just exactly where Paul had driven me and George to. I was in the lot; I could tell by the dying grass and the trees that were spread across the field. Then I could see Soda and Darry standing quite a few feet away from us, both dressed sharply, wearing sad, apologetic looks on their faces as they stared at me.

"Daddy..." I whispered. _It's gonna be okay, baby, everything's gonna be alright_, Darry mouthed to me, trying to calm me down as I started shaking slighty; not all of it was from the cold. I thought I could see tears welling in Soda's eyes as Paul started talking again.

"Hmm... Didn't think I'd sedate him THAT heavily. did you?" My head started ringing, and I turned to give Paul a dirty look, but as I did, I could see a familiar face coming up behind him who was trying not to make a single noise that'd cause Paul to turn around and notice him. I knew George could see him too, but he wasn't saying anything about it; I think he was on our side. But, thanks to my loud mouth and clogged brain, I had to make a sound.

"Keet? ..." I asked softly. Two-Bit went stiller than anything as Paul's face fell confused and turned around. Then Two-Bit gave him a left hook, making him crash to the ground, groaning in pain and agony while gripping his nose. George bolted across the field towards Darry and Soda; the bumping around and cold wind was making me nauscious, and white streaks shot across my vision. _That can't be good_, I thought, trying not to think of the massive headache that was growing at the core of my head.

"HERE! TAKE HIM AND GET OUTTA HERE!!!" George yelled. His voice echoed in my ears as Soda took me as gently as he could. George then ran all the way over to help Two-Bit with Paul; Paul was up and filled with fury as Two-Bit dodged every single punch and kick that he gave out.

"Owie... OWIE!" I cried out as the headache I had grew worse and the streaks soons turned blue, yellow and bright orange. Soda kissed my head many times and cradled me against his warm T-shirt; he rubbed my back and held onto me tightly as he could; he started running.

"Owie... Owie, Soda...." I kept whining, begging desperately in my mind for Soda to stop the headache; he just kept running, accelerating faster and faster as the seconds went by. I couldn't stop focusing my attention on the growing headache that was consuming my every thought and every move. soon enough, the pain was was turning into drowsiness, and I started getting more and more tired, judging on how my eyelids grew heavier and heavier. I couldn't even hear the heavy pounding of my brothers' footsteps on the wet metallic concrete, just a low ringing noise that seemed to be coming from somewhere off in the distance, it's volume slowly climbing higher. The moment I realized that I couldn't hear anything was the same exact moment I realized that I couldn't see anything; I seemed to be surrounded by a pitch-black, empty darkness that would've swallowed me up completely had I not been able to feel Soda's warmth and his hand at the back of my head. That was the only thing that kept me just above the surface of consciousness; Darry's and Soda's reassurance and rejoice in the fact that I was back in their loving care and arms again. _I'm back home_, I thought slowly_, what a state to be in to finally be back home with your family!_

All of a sudden, I felt something warm and fuzzy being wrapped around me multiple times pretty tightly and someone kissed me lightly on my forehead. Everything was swirling around me in different colors and I felt a funny feeling rise in my throat.

"Come on, Pone, hold on baby... we're gonna get you to the hospital, 'kay? We're gonna get there soon..." I heard Darry whisper in my ear as I was being shifted in someone's arms._ Okay,_ I answered in my head, _I'll try, Darry... I'll try..._

When we got to the hospital, I had just about given into the pain that had been pestering me since back at the lot, but if it weren't for Darry's endurance and Soda's strength in love and care for me, I would've given up completely.

"Shh...babe... we've got you now, we've got you..." Soda whispered soothingly, stroking my face as I stared blankly into space. I could kind of see him now, his god-like facial features and dark brown eyes that usually laughed and stated his happy-go-lucky trait and carefree nature to smile which were now filled deeply with worry and misery. My ears had given me back the privilege of hearing normally now(thank goodness); but my headache didn't get any better, and that was what I was fighting against real hard.

Soon my surroundings switched up on me faster than you could ever imagine, making my headache reach it's peak in making pains shoot through not only my head but also through my tiny body(I'm pretty small for my age, even as a baby); one minute Soda's talking to me in a soft, sweet voice, and the next I'm being strolled away with complete strangers dressed in bleached white clothing, like the ones at the other hospital I was at(maybe this was the same one). And on top of that they were talking real fast and yelling at each other to get things and people and to move out of the way.

"Daddy..." was the last thing I remember doing that night; actually it was the very last thing I ever remember about that night, other than a dream that I thought that meant I was dead... My mind decided to give me a break and took me to a beautiful golden place where no headaches were going to pester little baby boys who's families had gotten the short ends of many sticks, and had gone through much too much at such a young age.


	8. NOTICE

The Outsiders EXPERT-101

July 26th, Tuesday: 2011

WORK IN PROGRESS NOTICE

Hey, guys i am sooo sorry I've got a lot to catch up on but I will be continuing on all my stories and finishing them for you guys 'cause you're all so awesome and have been so patient I love you guys for supporting me in my writing; I've just had other things to get done and I'm trying to plot out the rest of my storylines in ALL of my stories so thanks for waiting!

Personal apologies for those who asked me to write stories for them I will get to that and after all is done I've got a little surprise for you all so thanks for reading!

3Britt


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